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How Technology Can Help You Reclaim Your Free Time – Even While Working in Large Law

How technology can help you reclaim your free time – even while working in large law

Four words law firm associates and paralegals don’t hear enough: How was your weekend? Long hours, stress and burnout are realities for legal professionals. But strides in technology, and artificial intelligence (AI) in particular, are helping many reclaim those precious evening and weekend hours.

When well-trained AI shaves time off routine tasks, the hours add up. To associates and paralegals, the benefits of such technology are readily apparent—more free time, reduced stress, less drudgery, more time for meaningful work. Law firm decision makers, however, may require additional business reasons to invest in new research solutions.

If you want to see some daylight at the end of your week, it helps to be prepared with a compelling argument. Below are a few arguments you can make to convince your partners to invest in AI-enabled legal technologies – so you can get your weekends back:

Client retention: Most law firm decision makers are willing to consider anything that improves client retention. Happy clients come back. They refer their friends and business contacts. With features such as WestSearch® Plus, law firms are cutting time from once onerous research tasks, giving clients more for their billable hours. When AI eliminates traditional time sinks, attorneys can focus on delivering great service and results, thus satisfying and retaining clients to a greater degree.

Efficient workforce: As competition grows, clients expect more for their legal fees. Law firm decision makers who habitually, albeit begrudgingly, submit to costly write-offs and write-downs may be very receptive to the increased efficiency offered by AI. Westlaw Edge® has intuitive search features that think for themselves, weeding out false leads and delivering accurate search results in clear and concise language. When everyone works more efficiently, law firm decision makers are happy.

A competitive edge: Law firms will always need good lawyers and skilled staff, but many feel more is needed to thrive in today’s competitive market. AI can provide that edge, helping a firm work faster and smarter than its competitors. Thomson Reuters Westlaw® Litigation Analytics analyzes judges’ tendencies, searches dockets and trial documents providing attorneys with a new level of insight so they can build more successful case strategies. In an environment where every competitive edge is precious, law firm decision makers may be swayed by the fast, accurate and user-friendly assistance provided by Litigation Analytics and other Westlaw Edge features.

Time means everything. It means getting ahead of the curve and moving on to the next thing more quickly. More efficient research with Westlaw Edge means getting on to another case you might not have been able to and getting more experience. It means learning even more.

Sarah-Michelle Stearns

Associate, Locke Lord LLP

Today’s cutting-edge technology quickly becomes tomorrow’s necessity. Once upon a time, there were internal debates over whether a law firm needed the internet, email, a computer…or a telephone. In the same way, technologies such as AI will become the new norm, placing early adopters in the driver’s seat and leaving non-adopters with an inadequate toolset.

For all the wonders AI can perform, helping legal professionals rediscover nights and weekends could be among the most miraculous. Learn more about how associates and paralegals are helping their firms – and their personal lives – by adopting artificial intelligence and other innovative legal research tools.